February 15, 2013

This morning's edition of MoreNews presents you with 6links to interesting reports from around the web. Some of the reports that we're covering today include:Meteorite Falls in Russian Urals; Microsoft Could Make Billions from Office for iPad; Staples will reportedly begin selling Apple products in US; The Cops Aren't Going to Find Your Stolen iPhone; Leaked Photo Reveals PlayStation 4 Controller with Touchpad and more.
Updated 8:05 A.M. MST: New video about Asteroid 2012DA14's projectory for today.

MoreNews AM 02.15.13

Patently Apple's MoreNews section is generally about delivering links to interesting news stories on Apple, new technologies, products or people making news today. On occasion, it's just about having a little fun. We hope that you'll enjoy our selection this morning.

"The proprietary chip makes it more difficult for accessory makers to produce cheap knockoff products that are compatible with Lightning, which could potentially tarnish the iPhone brand. Also, it pushes accessory makers to pay Apple the licensing fees to be part of the MFi program."

"A meteor flew across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 400 people, many of them hurt by broken glass."
The count of injured has risen, as of 9 AM, to 725, reports CNN. At 4PM, NBC reports the injured count nears 1,000.

The meteorite is likely associated with Asteroid 2012 DA14 which will make its closest approach to Earth at 2:25 p.m. ET today. Could there be more meteorites on the way today? I don't know, but an umbrella won't be of any use in this kind of storm (Ha!).

"D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier appealed to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for help early last year after seeing phone thefts rise 54 percent from 2007, the year Apple released the first iPhone. "We were having as many as 20 robberies a day," Lanier says. "People were being beaten, stomped, and kicked in the process."

"The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first treatment to give limited vision to people who are blind, involving a technology called the artificial retina. The device allows people with a certain type of blindness to detect crosswalks on the street, the presence of people or cars, and sometimes even large numbers or letters."

Sony is holding an event next week to discuss the "the future of PlayStation", at which it is expected to unveil the successor to the PlayStation 3. In early January Patent Bolt covered Sony's new hybrid PS controller patent. One of the technologies covered in the report was that of a new motion controller integrated into the controller. You see it in the photo at the front edge of the controller in a blue rectangle.

In January's patent, Sony represented the motion controller as a huge blue bulb. But Patents are to convey an idea and not always what it will end up looking like. In that report I stated at the time that "I suspect that Sony will further refine their technology so that the blue bulbs at the end of the controller will be miniaturized and non-distracting. Otherwise this will be a design drawback that could hurt their future gaming platform. I trust that Sony is up to the task." Well, that's exactly what they've done and the photo proves that out. If this pans out for the PS4, then it'll mark another patent fulfilled.

By the way, there's also a new Xbox rumor. It appears that Microsoft's Kinect motion sensor device may be bundled with the next Xbox, but some think it'll be an added expense.

If you think that there's an interesting report out today that we're not covering, then take a moment and send in your suggestions.

About Commenting on MoreNews: We ask that participants submitting comments first enter the name of our report listed above for easy identification. As long as the comment is contributing to one of our reports, it'll be posted. Patently Apple reserves the right to dismiss comments that are considered to be "off topic," misplaced rants or that use inappropriate language.

It'll be interesting to see how the touch display and motion detector will play out in real next generation PS 4 games. I think the look is fine, but they should color the motion sensor to grey or something less conspicuous.